St Brigid's Primary School Newsletter

St Brigid's News and Events

(Photo: Luke and our gift to the Brigidine Nuns)

Wellbeing

 

Family Wellbeing

Anglicare Victoria recognises that every family needs help from time to time. This term their family specialist team continues to empower parents to help make informed decisions on some common challenges that raising children can present. 

  • This includes the new 'ParentZone Podcasts’. 
  • Topics such as dealing with anxious children and sibling rivalry are covered in this series of six, snappy episodes (15 mins). 
  • Click here to listen  or download from Spotify

Digital Wellbeing

 

Mind The Gap Today eSafety released its new research report Mind the Gap: Parental awareness of children’s exposure to risks online. The report offers insights into the online lives of young people aged 8 to 17, and what parents do and do not know about their children’s online experiences.

Key findings

  • Young people engage in a wide range of supportive and protective online activities, such as accessing health information and services, and seeking emotional support from friends. 
  • Young people are often treated in hurtful ways online and may feel their parents don't acknowledge the severity of these experiences.
  • Children and teenagers often participate in risky online behaviours.
  • While children with restrictive parents are less likely to be exposed to harmful content, they are also much less likely to engage in supportive and protective online activities.

Click here to see an infographic summarising the positive and negative effects of children having access to an online environment. 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Literacy News

This week’s newsletter looks at ways to promote writing at home.

 

Help Parents Promote Independent Reading and Writing at Home

Janice Such

 

Home Fun That Promotes Writing

Parents can use these ideas to encourage children to write at home:

  1. Set up a writing table with a variety of pencils, markers, and papers.
  2. Ask children to help create a weekly or monthly family newsletter.
  3. Have children write lists for upcoming visits to the grocery store.
  4. Help youngsters create stories or books about family experiences.
  5.  Place a note in children’s lunchboxes or backpacks, and invite them to respond.
  6. Give children a clipboard and pencil and send them on a word hunt around the house.
  7. Involve children in writing a nightly message such as “Today we had pasta for dinner.”
  8. Take photos of a family activity and ask children to write about the pictures.
  9. Interest children in meteorology and ask them to write about the weather each day.
  10. Encourage children to write letters and cards to grandparents and other relatives.

Reference:

Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2014). The daily 5 (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

 

Sustainability

Providing the children with engaging outdoor play spaces using items that are being repurposed has resulted in some very popular imaginary play areas.

I am seeking the following unwanted items to repurpose and further enhance the playground, can you help?

  • 8, Lengths of 90mm stormwater pipe 1200mm to no less than 200mm 
  • 16, 90mm elbow fittings
  • Biscuit tins with lids assorted sizes
  • Saucepan lids or aluminium cake pans